An Unexpected Adventure
by PokeAlpha
Summary: Hello, this is my first fan-fic so I hope you enjoy it. This story will eventually contain lemon trainer/Pokemon scenes including both male and female Pokemon. This story will be loosely based off of my playthrough of Alpha Sapphire. I welcome all criticism of this work be it positive or negative, and I would be happy to receive suggestions as to how I should continue the story.
1. Chapter 1 - Introduction

My name is Andrew, and I am an 18 year old trainer setting out on my own pokemon adventure. I was never meant to live this life. I had plans to go off into the world, study hard, and get a good job in one of the many professions available outside of the pokemon trainer world. It is always every kid's dream to grow up into a professional pokemon trainer, even though the odds of success are slim at best. My parents raised me with a realistic view of the world, and I was quickly turned away from the notion of my own pokemon journey. On my tenth birthday, as all of my friends took their pokemon and went off into the world, I stayed at home, studying. Years went by, and one by one each of them came back with crushed dreams and a heavy heart. Those who fail in their pokemon journeys return home to continue their education, and soon my friends were back in the same boat as I was, studying hard, preparing for the life they were always destined for. In the years I had stayed home, I had accrued a massive head start on my classmates, and by the age of 18 I had been accepted into one of the largest universities in Kanto. Once there, I would study hard, and one day get a job at a major corporation like the Devon Corporation. My life was set out, and I was eager to get to the finish line.

However, if life has taught me anything it is that you can't always get what you want. Soon after I had graduated high school, my parents decided to take a drive on a rainy night. I was home by myself, and was oblivious of the time ticking by. I had just finished making myself dinner when I heard a knock at the door. I found this odd, as my parents had a key, and I got up from my seat to answer it. As I pulled open the door, I saw a police officer soaked through from the rain. He had a solemn look on his face, and when he saw me the expression intensified.

"Are you Andrew?" he asked me, and I nodded slowly, confused as to what the situation was about. He told me that my parents had been in a car accident, and that he was going to take me to see my father in the hospital. I asked him what happened to my mother, but he didn't seem to be able to give me an answer. I was silent for the entire ride. I was too shocked to cry, and I was having trouble processing the information. When we arrived, I was walked slowly to a dimly lit room on the top floor of the hospital. Inside was my father, laid out in a hospital bed and breathing heavily. An oxygen tube hung under his nose, and his entire torso seemed to be wrapped in bandages.

"Leave me with my son." my father said quietly. The nurse tried to object but my father shot her a glance that shut her up. The police and the nurse left the room, leaving me alone with my father. "I'm sorry to be blunt with you," he said, his voice barely audible as I leaned in to hear him, "but I am not going to make it. I have several broken ribs and the doctors tell me I am bleeding internally." I stood silent still as my father told me these horrible things. My eyes began to water, the realization of my situation finally settling in. "Listen to me son, things are going to change for you," he spoke again, "There is no way you will be able to afford university with what we can leave for you." Tears began to run down my face. My life was unraveling before my eyes, everything I held dear was being taken away. My father had started to cry as well, but he kept his composure as he continued to speak to me. "You have to make your own way now son, I'm sorry. I wish there was more I could give you." I finally started crying, and my father reached out for my hand. I took his hand in mine, squeezing tightly, as if I could keep him there so long as I held on. "Andrew, listen to me, there is one option left. Your pokemon journey, the one you didn't take. Your mother and I always steered you away from that path, we told ourselves we wanted better for you. But the truth is that we were bitter. Neither of us made it far into our own pokemon journeys, and we wanted to save you the disappointment. But it was wrong of us to deprive you of that experience. At home, you will find your pokemon trainer card. We kept it from when you were young. You can still use it to register for your journey. I know it's a long shot, but even a long shot is worth trying. You can do what your mother and I couldn't; it's your only chance of a good life. Do this for me son. Please?" I looked into my father's eyes, my mind flooded with emotions of every sort. I finally managed to nod, and my father nodded to me in return. "Thank you," he said "Now please, let me rest a while." My father closed his eyes, and I sat down in the chair by the bed. The nurse came back in and I told her I wanted to stay. She nodded, her eyes tearing up as I watched my father sleep.

My father died early in the morning, and the police escorted me back to my house soon after his departure. I wandered through my house for what seemed like days, my eyes empty and my heart cold. I eventually found my trainer card, a small piece of plastic that felt archaic in my hands. I gripped it tightly as I started to cry, the sound echoing through the now empty house. My eyes eventually dried up, and I looked down at the trainer card in my hand. I gripped it tightly again, and started collecting things I would need for my journey.

The funeral was short, I had planned it that way, and I took a moment to stand over the graves of my parents. The cold stone into which their names were etched seemed to suck up all the joy in the world, and eventually I could not stand to look at it any longer. I turned and began to walk, and once I reached the street I turned and followed the road home. It would be a long time before I visited those graves again. As I reached home I gathered my things, taking everything I could fit into my backpack. I knew the road ahead would be a long one, and I had no desire to return home anytime soon. I caught a cab to the docks where I bought a ticket to Hoenn with the little money my parents had left me. I had decided to take my adventure to Hoenn in an attempt to leave my own region behind, and I boarded the boat with tearful eyes as I left my home. The boat ride was long, but eventually we landed in Slateport. From there I hitched a ride with a man and his Wailmer across the river on Route 103, leaving me in Oldale Town. I was able to use my trainer card to get a room at the pokemon center, and I kept quiet when the nurse asked if I wanted to heal my pokemon. Tomorrow I would head south to Littleroot Town, where I would meet Professor Birch and register for my pokemon journey. As I laid in my bed I tried to forget where I had come from. The only way to get through this was to leave my past behind, and I let the memory of my former home drift away as I myself drifted to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2 - A New Friend

My eyes opened slowly, and it took me a few moments to remember where I was. Memories started to rush back into my head but I tried my best to suppress them. I gathered my belongings and started to head out towards Littleroot town. As I walked I saw children scattered throughout route 101, eagerly searching for their first encounter with a wild pokemon. Some children seemed to approach the situation different than others. I saw some children charging through tall grass, running at any hint of rustling around them. Others walked slowly, grasping their pokeball tightly and jumping at the slightest noise. I remembered back to some of my friend's descriptions of their journeys, how eager or frightened they were in the beginning. It got me thinking about my own feelings about the journey. I looked around and saw trainers in the heat of battle, shouting commands to their pokemon as the wild pokemon fought back. I saw others embracing their new companions, forging bonds that would likely last for a long time. Their new companions were their starters of course, they were the prized battling pokemon that would accompany the trainers all the way to the Elite Four if their journey took them so far. The pokemon they would encounter along the way however would be less fortunate.

While many trainers are loving and thoughtful towards all of their pokemon, I have found there to be a major problem with the mindset of most trainers. Many individuals do not see pokemon as sentient creatures, but as mere means to an end. The first of this category are the hardcore trainers, who value strength above all. While pokemon can enjoy battling given the proper amount of care, these trainers neglect their pokemon completely outside of battling. Worse still, these trainers are highly selective of who they let into their party, and have no problem kicking out the weakest member if a stronger pokemon were to join. These exiled pokemon sometimes spend their whole lives in the storage facilities at pokemon centers, and if they are released they are cast back into the wild, deprived of the new friends they had met on their journey. The second type of bad trainers are the collectors. These trainers may not care much for battling, but they do care about having as many pokemon as possible. Collectors will catch a pokemon they have never caught before and send it to the storage system for the rest of it's life. They are caught simply for status, and once they are caught and their data recorded, they are traded between collectors like currency. These pokemon never know love, not even briefly, and many never even meet the trainers that catch them. They are simply traded away as soon as their usefulness expires, and are forever lost into the market of the collectors. This abuse is something I always hated about trainers, and at that moment I vowed never to neglect any of the pokemon I caught.

I reached Littleroot not long after I had made my promise, and it didn't take me long to find the professor's lab. As I stepped inside, I realized I was nervous, not only to begin my journey but about the circumstances of it. I was starting my pokemon adventure 8 years late, and I knew I was going to run into questions. Questions meant giving answers, answers I had no desire to give. I walked up to a man in a white labcoat and cleared my throat. "Hello, is Professor Birch here?" The man turned to me and smiled, holding out his hand. I took it, and he opened his mouth to speak. "Are you an associate of the Professor's?" he asked, and I squirmed as I stood. Questions. "No," said, a little embarrassed, "I'm here to get my starter pokemon." The man's expression changed quickly, as he looked at me quizzically. "How old are you son?" he asked. I told him I was 18 and he sighed. "Look, there are no re-dos of the pokemon league, every trainer gets one chance. I'm sorry you didn't make it, but I can't go giving everyone that comes back a second chance, can I?" I looked at my feet as I spoke, "I actually never took my pokemon challenge, this is still my first chance." I held out my trainer card and handed it to the man. He took it to his computer and swiped it through, and a few moments later he handed it back to me. "Professor Birch's office is on the right he told me, and he went back to his work, a look of confusion on his face. I made my way to the door on the right and opened it slowly, knocking on it as I entered. I entered the room and sat down, looking at the man behind the desk. He was a bit round around the middle, but for the most part he had a charming demeanor about him, which eased my shaking voice. "I-I'm here to get a pokemon" I said. The professor stared at me for a moment before speaking. "My assistant tells me your trainer card checks out. I know some children skip their pokemon journey, but I've never had anyone come late. Why is it that you have only now decided to pursue this?" I sat silent for a moment, bad thoughts flooding through my head. The sooner I told him the sooner I could forget again, so I decided to come clean. I told him about the accident, about how my parents had left me nothing to get by on. The professor sat silently, nodding occasionally before reaching into his desk. He pulled out a small briefcase and laid it on the table. He flipped it open revealing three pokeballs. They were labelled Treecko, Mudkip, and Torchic. I recognized the names as Hoenn starter pokemon, and I looked back up at the professor. "Take one," he said, and I saw his eyes watering slightly, "I'm sorry for your loss. I hope you do your parents proud." My eyes started to water as well, and I looked back down at my choices. I finally reached for the center one, and I held it in my hand for a while before thanking the professor. He then gave me 5 empty pokeballs, a potion, and a pokedex. The pokedex looked old, and I looked at him for an explanation. He smiled knowingly. "Because your trainer card was issued 8 years ago, you pokedex will only register if it was issued the same year. Lucky for you, I keep an old model from every year as a collection, but I am more than happy to give it to you." I looked down at the faded red gadget in my hands and thanked him again.

As I stepped out into the cool air I could feel the added weight of in backpack. My own pokemon journey was finally beginning, even though it was not as I had always thought it would. I reached into my bag and pulled out the pokeball of the Mudkip I had chosen. I remembered back 8 years ago, when my father told me about his own pokemon journey. He told me his starter was a Squirtle, and he had named it Viktor. He would never tell me what happened to it, only that it didn't accompany him back home. I looked back down at the pokeball in my hands, confident in the name of my new friend. I pressed the button, and out shot the little water pokemon. It looked around briefly before turning to me and smiling. "Kip!" it squeaked at me, and I smiled down at him. "Hello, Viktor" I said to him, "You and I are going to be the best of friends." The pokemon beamed at me before running and jumping into my lap, rubbing it's head against my stomach. It's slimy skin was cool to the touch, and the soft bubbling noise it made reminded me of the purring of a Delcatty. I stood up, my new friend at my side, and together we headed towards route 101.


End file.
